KZN battered by rain, snow, and veld fires

KwaZulu-Natal - After a week of bitter cold and heavy rain and snow the weather in KwaZulu-Natal turned on Sunday to gusting winds fanning 31 veld fires across the province.

The worst-hit area was Zululand where a shack fire in Nkwenkwe, near Melmoth, destroyed 50 homes.

Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube called on all communities to be careful when working with open flames in dry and windy conditions.

The whole of KZN is a high-risk area for runaway fires in the winter months which are usually dry.

Bitter cold makes the situation worse as frost cures vegetation, making it vulnerable to fire.

Zanele Nxumalo, from the the government job creation programme Working on Fire, said it was called in to fight 17 fires in the province yesterday and 14 fires on Saturday.

“The number of fires has a lot to do with the strong winds experienced in the province,” she said.

She said no human deaths were recorded, but agricultural lands were damaged and some livestock was lost.

Dube visited the community where the shacks were destroyed, telling them to register for government support.

Department spokesman Vernon Mchunu said meals were provided to the families and would be provided to them for the week.

School uniforms would also be bought for the children who lost their clothes in the fire.

Mpumalanga and Limpopo had similar conditions and also battled with fires on Sunday.

The Western Cape was battered by violent storms caused by a cold front.

Five people remained missing and scores of Cape Town homes were flooded during a weekend of gales, heavy rain and cold.

And more bad weather is on the way, according to Weather SA, which indicates that heavy rain and gale-force winds are expected tomorrow and on Wednesday before the cold front loses intensity on Thursday and Friday.

In Durban and across the province, weather conditions were expected to be fine with clear skies in most areas for the week.

Weather SA said winds were expected to pick up on Wednesday, with a north-easterly wind reaching up to 30 knots, but the wind would return to moderate levels on Thursday.

No cold fronts were expected in Durban. - The Mercury